The Selfish Giant (folk opera)

Last updated
The Selfish Giant
The Selfish Giant cover.jpg
Cover of the soundtrack
Music Guy Chambers
LyricsGuy Chambers
Book Guy Chambers
Basis The Selfish Giant
by Oscar Wilde
Premiere4 April 2018: Royal Theatre, Northampton
Productions2018 Northampton
2018 London

The Selfish Giant is a folk opera composed and adapted by English songwriter Guy Chambers, based on the short story by Oscar Wilde (as part of The Happy Prince and Other Tales ).

Contents

Production

The folk opera was produced by Classic Spring (Dominic Dromgoole's production company) as part of their Oscar Wilde season in a concert staging directed by Bill Buckhurst, designed by Simon Kenny and choreographed by Imogen Knight. It opened at the Royal Theatre, Northampton from 4 to 7 April 2018, followed by a run in London's West End at the Vaudeville Theatre from 10 to 14 April 2018. [1] [2]

Chambers' recording studio released the accompanying soundtrack to the folk opera Sleeper Sounds on 5 April 2018 on CD and digital.

Cast and characters

CharacterCast [3]
Girl/NarratorNatasha Cottrial
Ben/HailOlly Dobson
BoyJacob Fisher
Girl/Narrator Izuka Hoyle
The GiantJeff Nicholson
Girl/Little BoyRose Shalloo
Girl/NarratorLaura Sillett
BoyScott Sutcliffe
Charlie Laila Zaidi

Track list

All tracks are written by Guy Chambers

No.TitleLength
1."Overture"0:43
2."There Will Be Sun"2:01
3."Giant's Garden"4:30
4."Fruit Picking Song"3:02
5."One Day the Giant Came Back"0:30
6."The Angry Giant"2:12
7."Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted"1:48
8."Building A Wall"1:48
9."We Don't Know Why"1:56
10."Winter Has Come"2:24
11."Then the Spring Came"3:54
12."Where There's a Will There's a Way"2:04
13."The Elements"3:02
14."He Likes to Turn the Rain to Ice"2:33
15."Selfish Giant"3:56
16."I Believe the Spring Has Come at Last"3:01
17."The Children Have Returned"2:27
18."How Selfish I Have Been"1:57
19."Climb Little Boy"2:27
20."It's Your Garden Now"2:21
21."Where Is The Boy"3:25
22."Wounds of Love"7:03
23."Epilogue"0:43
24."Bells at 12 Reprise"3:01
25."Magical Love"3:01
Total length:75:00

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar Wilde</span> Irish poet, playwright, and aesthete (1854–1900)

Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.

<i>The Importance of Being Earnest</i> Play (farcical comedy) by Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage and the resulting satire of Victorian conformity. Some contemporary reviews praised the play's humour as the culmination of Wilde's artistic career, while others were cautious about its lack of social messages. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest an enduringly popular play.

<i>Lady Windermeres Fan</i> 1892 play by Oscar Wilde

Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed on Saturday, 20 February 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London.

<i>The Happy Prince and Other Tales</i> 1888 collection of fairytales by Oscar Wilde

The Happy Prince and Other Tales is a collection of stories for children by Oscar Wilde first published in May 1888. It contains five stories: "The Happy Prince," "The Nightingale and the Rose," "The Selfish Giant," "The Devoted Friend," and "The Remarkable Rocket." In 2003, the second through fourth stories were adapted by Lupus Films and Terraglyph Interactive Studios into the three-part series Wilde Stories for Channel 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Hall (director)</span> English theatre, opera and film director (1930–2017)

Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall CBE was an English theatre, opera and film director. His obituary in The Times declared him "the most important figure in British theatre for half a century" and on his death, a Royal National Theatre statement declared that Hall's "influence on the artistic life of Britain in the 20th century was unparalleled". In 2018, the Laurence Olivier Awards, recognizing achievements in London theatre, changed the award for Best Director to the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director.

Martin Jarvis OBE is an English actor. Described by the BBC as "one of Britain's most distinguished and versatile actors", he has had a varied career in theatre, film and television, and is particularly noted for radio acting and voicing audiobooks.

<i>An Ideal Husband</i> 1895 play by Oscar Wilde

An Ideal Husband is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. It was first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 1895 and ran for 124 performances. It has been revived in many theatre productions and adapted for the cinema, radio and television.

<i>Salome</i> (play) Tragedy by Oscar Wilde

Salome is a one-act tragedy by Oscar Wilde. The original version of the play was first published in French in 1893; an English translation was published a year later. The play depicts the attempted seduction of Jokanaan by Salome, stepdaughter of Herod Antipas; her dance of the seven veils; the execution of Jokanaan at Salome's instigation; and her death on Herod's orders.

Guy Antony Chambers is an English songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work with Robbie Williams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Canterville Ghost</span> 1887 short story by Oscar Wilde

"The Canterville Ghost" is a humorous short story by Oscar Wilde. It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in two parts in The Court and Society Review, 23 February and 2 March 1887. The story is about an American family who moved to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead English nobleman, who killed his wife and was then walled in and starved to death by his wife's brothers. It has been adapted for the stage and screen several times.

<i>Patience</i> (opera) 1881 comic opera by Gilbert & Sullivan

Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera is a satire on the aesthetic movement of the 1870s and '80s in England and, more broadly, on fads, superficiality, vanity, hypocrisy and pretentiousness; it also satirises romantic love, rural simplicity and military bluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Slaughter</span> English conductor and composer

Walter Alfred Slaughter was an English conductor and composer of musical comedy, comic opera and children's shows. He was engaged in the West End as a composer and musical director from 1883 to 1904.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Opera House (Toronto)</span>

The Grand Opera House was an opera house and concert hall located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

This is an incomplete list of music based on the works of Oscar Wilde.

Oscar Wilde's life and death have generated numerous biographies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Théâtre de l'Athénée</span> Theatre in Paris, France

The Théâtre de l'Athénée is a theatre at 7 rue Boudreau, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Renovated in 1996 and classified a historical monument, the Athénée inherits an artistic tradition marked by the figure of Louis Jouvet who directed the theatre from 1934 to 1951. During the period when he was director, it became known as the Athenée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet.

Fiona Button is an English actress. She is best known for playing Rose Defoe in The Split.

<i>The Judas Kiss</i> (play) 1998 play by David Hare

The Judas Kiss is a 1998 play by David Hare about Oscar Wilde's scandal and disgrace at the hands of his young lover Bosie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emil Wolk</span>

Arnold Emil Wolk is an Anglo-American stage director and stage and screen actor. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award in 1988 as 'Best Actor in a Musical' for Kiss Me, Kate, sharing the award with co-star John Bardon.

Laila Zaidi is an English actress. On television, she is known for her roles in the tenth series of Benidorm (2018) on ITV and the fifth series of the Channel 4 comedy-drama Ackley Bridge (2022).

References

  1. Bowie-Sell, Daisy (6 March 2018). "Jeff Nicholson, Izuka Hoyle, Rose Shalloo and more cast in The Selfish Giant". WhatsOnStage. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  2. Alias, Other. "The Selfish Giant". Guy Chambers. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  3. "The Selfish Giant | Book Tickets Direct | Vaudeville Theatre, London". Nimax Theatres. Retrieved 2020-12-09.